Surface texture analysis can be fun. You get to see new things in your data that numbers just can’t show you.
Here’s a great example. Did you know that you can download 3D earth topography and imagery using OpenTopography? You can drag the point cloud data into OmniSurf3D, then add a satellite image as the Image Overlay (V2.07.121 or later). Once you’ve done that, you can explore meters and kilometers of terrain, just like you’d explore microns and millimeters in your surface roughness data!
Check it out in the video below to see how easy it is to do. And here are links to data you can use to try it for yourself.
United States 10 meter data:
https://portal.opentopography.org/raster?opentopoID=OTNED.012021.4269.1
Worldwide 30 meter data:
https://portal.opentopography.org/raster?opentopoID=OTSRTM.082015.4326.1
Download a free trial of OmniSurf3D: https://digitalmetrology.com/omnisurf3d-trial/
DATA SOURCE:
United States Geological Survey (2021). United States Geological Survey 3D Elevation Program 1/3 arc-second Digital Elevation Model. Distributed by OpenTopography. https://doi.org/10.5069/G98K778D. Accessed 2025-07-10